Daves On Soccer

I managed to catch Nick Geber and Steven Cohen's interview with MLS commissioner Don Garber on their daily radio show, World Soccer Daily. To Nick and Steve's credit, they asked tough questions about the biggest complaints soccer fans have with MLS. And to Don's credit, his answers were thoughtful and direct, if not always in line with the purists' desires.

Some of the highlights:

MLS is experimenting with a single table format for its reserve team league and might, at some point, adopt it for MLS. The single table format is used by all the major European leagues. But Garber said MLS plans to preserve its post-season as American fans and media expect it.

Relegation is not a possibility for MLS "in our lifetime".

Garber also rattled off the shortlist of cities that are candidates for MLS expansion teams. Toronto is targeted for a team in 2007 as Garber mentioned they will possess two critical ingredients for a successful franchise city: motivated, local ownership and a soccer -specific stadium to be built for FIFA's World Youth Tournament. The other possibilities Garber mentioned were Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Seattle. Personally, I would love to see the Seattle Sounders in MLS, but they've already been passed over once in favor of Salt Lake City.